The Perfect Social Media Equation For Nonprofits: Content + Partnership = Page Views

There are many reasons I have fun working for the Western Museum of Mining & Industry (WMMI): history, science, its unique geographic location, and of course, its nonprofit mission.  


Central to many of these reasons are the amazing people who are attracted to WMMI - visitors, volunteers, and staff. When the people are good, and the mission is important, nonprofits offer the perfect equation for effective social media marketing:


Content + Partnership = Page Views.


Providing entertainment, information and education (the first variable in the equation: Content) that benefits your stakeholders is the foundation of social media marketing success. Given WMMI’s diverse mission, there is no shortage of content. This translates easily to one or more WMMI Facebook posts per day. This keeps you thinking about how your mission is benefiting your stakeholders, provides you the opportunity to be creative, and most importantly from a social media marketing perspective, it keeps your product in your followers Facebook “News Feed.” (*Footnote below pertains to social media “streams.”)

Now, lets talk about the equation's Partnership variable. Stanford Social Innovation Review, in a terrific web article entitled Creating High-Impact Nonprofits, talked about the importance of “building networks of nonprofit allies.”  Of course, in any industry, networking can provide a powerful multiplier when, as Stanford’s Heather McLeod Grant & Leslie R. Crutchfield, put it: “high impact organizations help their peers succeed.”  Or, as Catherine Ryan Hyde stated in the title of her book: “Pay It Forward.” 


In regard to how this pertains to my work at WMMI, I had the opportunity to benefit camp counselors from the Philmont Scout Ranch by teaching them about mining history (don’t get me started about that!) using the museum’s tremendous resources. Because they knew they would be able to utilize this education in their work, and they had a good time touring the museum, the counselors agreed to a fun group photo and to facilitate contact with their organizations marketing staff for a potential social media marketing partnership. 


By recognizing a content opportunity, and working to provide a collaborative relationship (providing a beneficial education product and working to develop an authoritative management contact with a potential partner), I succeeded in generating the following Facebook posts:

The summation of the Perfect Social Media Equation (Content + Partnership = Page Views) is Page Views. I successfully worked on this equation at WMMI to generate over 6,900 views of WMMI’s Facebook Page and propose that you consider how you might use this equation to achieve your social media marketing goals. 

*Footnote: “News Feed” is Facebook’s term for posts you see from your friends, and other “Pages” you’ve “Liked.” Twitter shows you the “Tweets” from those you’ve followed. This posting activity in your social media network can be referred to as “social media stream or feed.” Depending on the social media application you are using (which should be determined by its ROI), you may need to post content more often (but not too often – you don’t want to pollute your followers stream!). An expert I listen too, recommends posting only three successive Tweets, two to four times per day, so your profile picture stands out in your followers Tweeter feed providing content, but not SPAM.